Mixed tribute
Cohen doesn’t need any help
Has one of your favourite books ever been made into a movie? Have you ever been satisfied with the result? The original story is always better, because you have attached your own images to the writer’s words.
I was introduced to the music of Leonard Cohen in my teens. His gravelly voice illuminated a more romantic way of life than high school in suburban Ottawa provided. Cohen’s lyrics are rich with imagery and layered narratives with strong, memorable characters. His music is undoubtedly included in many life soundtracks besides my own.
Homage to Leonard Cohen is a book of Calgarian Elizabeth Laishley’s paintings – each picture is inspired by one of the musician’s songs. In the text, Laishley describes how Cohen’s work has touched her over the years. The artist even sent some images to the musician for comment, and two of Cohen’s encouraging responses are printed in the publication.
The book has a plain design, with paintings on each right-hand page, and one strip of text down the left. Unfortunately, the quality of the reproductions of Laishley’s paintings is poor, and texture and small details are often lost in the blurred images.
Many of the compositions are more illustration than interpretation of the songs. The canvas inspired by Suzanne, for example, features a woman in mismatched, brightly patterned clothing sitting beside a large teapot and several oranges, with the harbour of Montreal in the background. All of this description is taken directly from Cohen’s lyrics.
Laishley’s paintings often oversimplify Cohen’s stories. The gritty, sentimental lyrics of "Chelsea Hotel" recount a night the musician spent with singer Janis Joplin before her death. The painter has reduced this atmospheric narrative to a cartoon-like drawing of two pairs of feet at the end of a bed.
In other pieces, Laishley’s own voice is more evident. "I’m Your Man" features a young woman blowing soap bubbles with images of men inside. A doctor, a boxer, and a race car driver are suspended against a starry background. Again, these are precisely the same examples of idealized manhood that Cohen used in his song, but Laishley’s interpretation seems more personal. The woman is young and idealistic – the bubbles of her dreams have not yet burst. The painter wrote that she discovered this song just after her divorce.
When an artist is inspired by someone else’s work, new ideas should come from the relationship. The work Laishley has produced doesn’t build on Cohen’s lyrics, it just reflects them. Perhaps the paintings could stand as independent works, but almost every viewer will bring a previous impression to the equation. Cohen's songs are a part of the Canadian musical canon – "So Long Marianne" was playing in the coffee shop the afternoon I wrote this review. As a master storyteller, his words are strong enough to stand alone. |
